Love or Something Like It
by SnazzinessRules
Summary: A collection of drabbles on the RH relationship, mainly written for delurkers! Various ratings, but any mature content will be pre-warned.
1. Egg Whisk

**This is written in thanks to "Ex-lurker****" who reviewed Old Fashioned Love ch9 and had the prompt "egg whisk"!**

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"Ow! Shiii..." the expletive tails off into a grimace and then becomes lost to the simultaneous noise of rushing water and rushing footsteps.

"Ruth! Are you-" Harry rounds the corner quickly and then stops at the figure in front of him, holding her finger under the tap. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," she shrugs, and then gestures to the worn out twin hob at the centre of the Grid's poor excuse for a kitchen. "I was tying to make myself breakfast. I caught the pan I was heating."

"Let's look," he commands, with gentle authority. Without waiting, he steps behind her and wraps a hand around hers, turning it under the water so he can examine the finger from all angles. "You'll live," he announces, softly.

He lets go of her hand and steps back, but only slightly, so that when she turns he is right in front of her, staring at her intently.

"'You scared me," she whispers. "E-earlier, I mean. When you came running. I didn't think any one was on the Grid yet."

He can think of no immediate answer which doesn't involve explaining he had sprinted directly from the Pods upon arriving and hearing her cry out. Instead, he reaches for her hand again and tells her it should be back under the water; somehow, though, they seem to just be holding hands, gazing intently, unable to commit to any other action. He hasn't let the hand go and she hasn't pulled back.

A quiet moment or two passes, and somehow a long stare descends into a ramble of conversation, and he's offering to finish cooking her breakfast - cooking them _both_ breakfast - while she rinses her finger. Even more oddly, she's agreeing.

''Funny. Isn't it?" she asks, as she watches him take over, picking up an egg whisk with which to tackle the as yet unbeaten eggs.

"What?"

"How something so small can cause so much change. Whipping things up, changing them around until they're a new thing, completely blended."

"Mmm, yes," he agrees, contemplatively. He grips his fingers tighter around the handle, and remembers her skin under his a moment ago.

She thinks they're both as well aware as each other that they're not just talking about whisks and scrambled eggs anymore.

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**Please review (...I guess the same goes and no matter where you delurk, you can prompt!?) xx**


	2. Dr Who

**This is written as a review reward for DB who gave a choice of two prompts- Dr Who or Sex and The City. **

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"How can you say that?" Jo fumed, "Sex and The City is _way_ better than Dr Who!"

Zaf took a bite of his sandwich and chewed thoughtfully for a minute. "The cast is prettier, I'll give you that, but Dr Who is a cult classic. You can't beat the Time Lord."

The blonde took a swig of her water and looked at him coolly as she screwed the lid back on the bottle. "Then how come you're always so eager to watch it with me then?"

Ruth suppressed a laugh as she watched the two bicker between themselves. Lunchtime was never dull when Zaf and Jo decided to eat at their desks. She was so caught up in watching their little argument that she failed to realise Harry was stood behind her until she felt his warm breath against her ear as he spoke.

"Do I want to know what today's high brow debate is about?" he whispered, amusement barely suppressed.

She looked over her shoulder at him. "Which is better Dr Who or Sex in The City?"

His eyes met hers and he watched her, silently, for a moment. "I'm rather partial to Dr Who," he murmured, smiling softly at her, "but I think it has more to do with snuggling up with you than the programme itself."

"I don't like the Daleks," she told him, unnecessarily, as she tried to suppress the large smile that threatened to erupt.

"I'll keep you safe," he said, with a wink.

Her gaze became incredibly soft as she answered, seriously, "You always do."

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**Reviews make us smile. Thanks for reading.**


	3. Spaghetti hoops on toast

**This is written for Out of the shadows to de-lurk who gave the prompt of spaghetti hoops on toast. **

**Let the madness begin...**

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"Harry?" she queried, not quite able to believe her eyes.

The broad shouldered man slightly further down the aisle turned at the sound of his name. "Ruth. Hello," he said, quietly, as he walked towards her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked and then immediately felt stupid as he looked pointedly at his shopping basket.

"Shopping," he replied, an amused smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

She flushed and stumbled over her words as she tried to make herself look less like the imbecile she felt like. "Oh, yes, well, obviously. Silly me. Um, I just thought you'd gone home."

"No, I just came to get something to eat. I still have some things to do in the office," he told her, smiling gently at her as she tried her best not to look too pleased that he hadn't gone home for the night.

"Great minds," she murmured, still blushing and trying to avoid his eye, "what're you having?" It was his turn to look embarrassed as she inspected the contents of his basket. "Spaghetti hoops on toast?"

"I fancied something simple," he said, defensively, and then realised that she was looking at his choice of food slightly enviously. "There's enough for two if you want to share?"

She laughed suddenly and looked for somewhere to stash her now redundant basket. "I'd love to actually."

Harry smiled and placed a hand on the small of her back, walking them both towards the till. "Would this count as dinner?" he whispered in her ear, seductively.

She bit her lip and looked at him over her shoulder. "I think it might."

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**Hopefully reading this made you smile. In turn you could make us smile by leaving a review. **


	4. Bubbles

_**Again, a completely separate (and silly) drabble from the rest of the chapters. This time the prompt was "bubbles" by jill112 – jill, sorry this isn't exactly a drabble…got a bit carried away! Hope you (and everyone else, for that matter) enjoy!  
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**_"Hello?" he questions, as he hastily grabs the phone, taking care not to drop it.

"Hi, Harry, er…"

"Ruth!?"

Yeah, er, listen, I…what's rustling?"

"Rustling?" he asks, innocently, trying to keep perfectly still as he looks around him at the almost overflowing bath he's sitting in, surround by (apparently) noisily popping bubbles. He doesn't really think she needs to know all this about him, even if it is Radox Muscle Soak!

"Yes, it sounds…crackly."

"Must be the line," he mutters. "What was it you wanted?"

"No, no, it's more, I don't know…are you outside?"

"No." Definitely not; at least that's truthful.

"By some leaves?" The moment she says it she knows that makes no sense being that he's not outside, but she can't understand what else could possibly be rustling.

"Ruth, I just sai-"

"I know, forget it, I wasn't thinking."

He chuckles, and forgets himself, and the faintest splash and slosh can be heard as he moves.

A tiny gasp emanates from the receiver in his hand.

"Ruth?"

"The bath?" she squeaks, both horrified and timid.

"Yes, Ruth, the bath," he sighs, wearily. "I'm afraid my bubbles are rustling."

"I, er, oh, God, Christ, I'm…I can't believe you take a bath with bubbles."

"Radox."

"Right…." There is a silence as she seemingly digests this unexpected information. "Which colour?"

"Um, blue," he replies, somewhat disbelieving of the conversation.

"Night-time or regular?"

"Bloody hell. I don't know. What does it matter?"

"I'm just trying to pictu-" There is a mortified silence. "N-no! I didn't mean, I meant, I just, it's hard to imagine is all."

He chuckles, loudly. "Regular. Is that helpful?" he adds, after he is greeted with silence.

"Er, a bit!?" she stutters, not really knowing what the correct reply is…or even if there is one.

"Oh," he muses, plainly a note of enjoyment in his voice. "I'm trying to think how I can provide more insight." He waits for the silence he knows will linger there. "Maybe it's just one of those things you need to see to believe."

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_**Thanks for reading – more de-lurker rewards for new reviewers. :) xx**_


	5. Giraffe

**DeliberatelyObtuse gave a prompt a long time ago of 'Giraffe' and this madness is the result of that. We're currently working on the other 2 prompts 'Shadow' and 'The Good Old Days' we still owe which will be posted in the near future hopefully. **

**I'm finding it hard to write at the moment so if anyone has a prompt or two they want to chuck my way I'd appreciate it as I think it might help me find my writing mo-jo again!**

**One final thing: It should be imagined that this drabble is set about a year after 9.4 and totally disregards anything that happened after 9.4 on the show...

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"Giraffe?" he echoed, incredulously and glared intently at the woman sat opposite him. The rest of the team shrank back from the table and eased out of the meeting room as quickly and quietly as possible.

"It's the next name on the list, Harry," Ruth explained patiently.

"Well bugger that, I'll use an old one-"

"You can't implement a new codename system and then refuse to use it at whim. This month's letter is G, the next name on the list is giraffe, it's as simple as that Harry."

"And this wouldn't be your way of getting back at me for insisting on a new protocol in the first place?"

"No."

"Or for being responsible for your nickname?"

"No," she shot back, "I can think of something much worse for that."

"I'm sure you can," he murmured, remembering her indignation at how the codename Gazelle appeared to have stuck all this time later.

"Bloody Dimitri," she grumbled, sending Harry a warning glare as he started to chuckle. "I'm hardly swift and graceful like this am I?" she concluded, pointing unnecessarily at the very pregnant belly that protruded from beneath her shirt.

"I suppose that's my fault as well..." Harry stated, neutrally, all too aware of how flammable her temper was.

"Too bloody right it is," she chided, heaving herself out of the chair. She turned on her heel and attempted to look dignified as she waddled away.

"Would you have it any other way?" he called after her, eyes glued to her retreating form.

"No," she called back over her shoulder and left him sat at the meeting room table smiling softly.

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**Thanks for reading. Please leave any new prompts in a review. **


	6. Shadow

**As it turns out, this was already all but finished when the last ch was published (we work fast, between us)! So it's here already :D It's a prompt from Unfinished Sympathy but sorry hon, didn't have time to check your link as this was already done. Will look though :)**

**This is slightly different to the normal drabbles, but it's just what came to mind. Besides, as per all the others, it stands completely alone and is unrelated to other chapters.**

**Oh, and for those who asked, 'drabble' strictly means a short work of fiction of 100 words, but is more loosely applied to anything shorter than a usual chapter/one shot. And now the A/N is almost as long as the fic. *shuts up*  
**

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Shadow (noun): tail; a spy employed to follow someone and report their movements.

_Day to day, she's so used to this word being used as commonplace; 'Shadow so and so…', 'Person X was shadowed…'. It's strange, sometimes, to think of all the other meanings that it holds._

...

Shadow (noun): shade within clear boundaries.

_She lives her life like this, she thinks; she reigns herself in, keeping her life muted and out of the light. If she keeps to her boundaries, and stays within the invisible walls she's constructed, there's little which can hurt her. Except, of course, the pain of longing for illumination._

...

Shadow (noun): apparition; something existing in perception only.

_Harry - her and Harry, more specifically - are a shadow, sometimes. They exist only in her mind, a perception of what could be if she steps out of that other shadow she lives in._

...

Shadow (noun): an inseparable companion.

_Eventually, that is what they become. In time, after years, they find their own version of Sussex, and together, they grow old; each of them, the other's shadow._

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**Please review and feel free to prompt (mainly de-lurkers, but we'll let you other lovely peeps join on if you ask nicely enough).**

**xx**


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